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Advice About Applying to Graduate School

In 2013 a colleague and I were commissioned by Cambridge University Press to write a book about applying to graduate school in the sciences. A large part of the approach was to source knowledge from others with experience in this process (both from admissions offices and former applicants), and to use that information to drive the conclusions in our book. We conducted a national survey of hundreds of graduate admissions programs, and this solicitation is an attempt to gain a perspective from those on the applicant side. What follows is a quick survey (~5 min), and should you choose to help us in this endeavor please read the quick disclaimer below and access the survey link at the end of this article.

You are being invited to participate in a research study about graduate school application in the natural/physical and life sciences. This research project is being conducted by Dr. S. Kersey Sturdivant of Duke University and Dr. Noelle Relles of SUNY Cortland, and is funded by Cambridge University Press. There are no known risks if you decide to participate in this survey, nor are there any costs for participating in the study. The goal of our project is to provide a comprehensive text for potential graduate school applicants in the sciences. We are conducting a survey of former and current graduate students for advice and “words of wisdom” to those undergoing the application process and are asking you to participate. We will incorporate responses to this survey in the advice we provide in our book, and directly quote some responses. If we use a quote from you it will be cited as anonymous, unless we contact you directly asking permission to quote you. We do feel that using direct quotes will make it more personable, but will only quote you after obtaining your permission legally.

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